Stroughton

Stoughton was founded by Luke Stoughton in 1847. The first settlers were Yankees from New England.

Waves of Norwegians immigrated to the community during the late 19th
century to make Stoughton America's Norwegian capital, home of lutefisk
and "Syttende Mai."

Stoughton's economy has leaned heavily on agriculture. Wheat farming was
important in the beginning. Later Norwegian farmers made Stoughton a
great tobacco growing and warehousing center. Women who sorted tobacco
in the warehouses inaugurated the national coffee break custom. The
manufacture of wagons was pioneered by Targe Mandt in 1865 and at the
turn of the century Stoughton's wagon factories were nationally famous
shipping 33 thousand vehicles per year and employing 1000 men.

The present Stoughton Historical Museum was built as the city's first church by Universalists in 1858.

The marker is located on southbound South Page Street at its intersection with West Jefferson Street, at the Stoughton Historical Museum, 324 South Page Street, Stoughton, Wisconsin 53589.

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Comments from Visitors

Thank you so much for visiting, documenting, photographing and sharing our historic markers! This is truly an honor and it is much appreciated. Jim SchuhChippewa County Historical Society

I just discovered your site and have been using it in my fourth grade summer school class in Viroqua, WI. We learned about Wisconsin throughout the year and are spending some time during summer school reading and talking about the history of Viroqua. We plan to take a walking trip to the Pioneer Cemetery and Lucy Stone marker. Thank you for all of your information!Kimberly (Brye) Cade

Hi, I really love your historic marker site a lot, I write a travel blog and I get pictures of these markers to assist in my writing about each town. I went to the Dean House in January for their monthly tour. Here is a link.

Very nice blog post. I certainly love this site. Keep it up!AnonymousThank you for posting this! I am Russ & Grace's grand-daughter & very happy they helped preserve this little slice of Soo Line history for future generations! Awesome website. Thanks for your work!Lillian Ferrall

Thanks for writing about your experiences! This is such a unique and wonderful way to share the history of our wonderful Wisconsin!tessalynn